I'm a bit stunned that typing that sentence, hitting that period at the end of it, rendered my fingers motionless. It wasn’t the end of the sentence that did it. Mixed emotions did, emotions I didn't realize I had until that moment.

I saw something the other day that caused mixed emotions in me. It was a hardback book, spread-eagle in the middle of the parkway, its pages flapping in the wind as cars drove over it. Now the cars weren’t smashing it with their tires, thank God. They were straddling it. (Yes, I know, there are lots of sex puns there. They’re not intended.) My mixed emotions came from the fact that I was so thrilled that someone